22 I all beginning to take her for granted. After all, she had done nothing ex- traordinar} for a year-not <;ince she had torn out the whole rIverside wall of her house to install those two outsize picturE' windows. At night, from the op- posite bank of the river, her house ap- peared to be a glittering sheet of white light-the most spectacular establish- ment in the community, whether you admired it or not. Even that, which had outraged all the rest of them (they said that, like her furniture, it wa ïhen to the spirit of Herbert's Re- treat), had drawn onl) an amused smile from Clara. Liza had always felt that C]ara's amusement might mask a touch of chagrin, enough to make a small vic- t01 y for herself. This time Clara's voice had been casual and friendly, but that was all. I wil] not be patronized by her, Liza thought wildly. I must show her. She went to the bridge party in a scattered, anxious frame of mInd. Clara had also asked i\rabelle Burton and Margaret Slade. They all come run- ning when Clal a rings the bell, Liza thought. As they were add;ng up their scores at the end of the afternoon, Clara asked, " A ' d T h . . I ren t you an om a vIng an annJ- L " "I" versary soon, Iza r "Not til] February," Liza said. "1 know it's February," Clara said. "How could any of us forget the month of your arrival, Liza. \\1 e had all just settled down after Christmas when you charged in to rouse us out of our lethar- gy. How many years is it? " "Seven," Liza said, and wondered if Clara was laughing at her secretly. They don't dare laugh at me to my face, she thought. I'm too quick for them. "Seven is a very special anniversary in most marriages, isn't it?" Margaret , fjj JL VJJ 2 M>j}) / ;;: C" '9;ý V )! -.;: Slade said indistinctly. .L s usual, she had a cold in her head. "I mean isn't it the most crucial year after the first, or something? " "Is it? " Clara said. "Look, Liza, I'd like to give a party for you on your anniversary. Seven years is a long time. We should have a celebratIon. Will you let me?" She sounded perfectl} sin- cere, and friendly, and Liza stared at her, baffled, not knowing what to say. Surely Clara wa being patronizing? "That's a wonderful idea-a sev- enth-anniversary party for Liza " l\1ar- garet Slade cried "We'll all bring ap- propriate presents. What is the seventh anniversary, anyway? i\rabelle, you al- ways know about things like that. What's the seventh anniversary-leath- "I "I " err paperr "Brass and copper," Arabelle said. "Well, then, that's settled," Clara said. "It's a brass-and-copper party. That should be eas} enough, but I'm afraid you're going to find yourself with a lot of ashtrays and hand hells." "You'll have to tell us what you'd really like, Liza," i1.rabelle said. "Your house is so special I'm afraid anything I'd pick out would be an anachro- " " nIsm. "Don't worry about that, Arabelle," lVlargaret said, b]owing her nose hearti- ly. "We're all in the <;atTIe boat there. I t would be hard not to bring an anachronism into Liza's house. We'll probably end up settling for the least anachronistic thing we can find, and hope for the best." "Why not bring the most anachro- nistic thing we can find?" Clara said. "An anachronIsm party would be much more fun than just sticking to brass or copper. Liza, I think I'll give you a cobbler's bench" ( \) )' ì 1} <:' yVr' \1) "Oh, that's marvellous!" Margaret cried. "I'll bring a kerosene lamp." "I'll bring a mustache cup," Arabelle said. Liza smiled stiffly They were baIt- ing her. They had never dared make fun of her before. Trembling, she de- cided to meet their challenge. "You must have read mv mind, Clara," she said quickly. "i\s a lTIatter of fact, Tom and I were laughing about anachronisms only the other night. As Tom said, a seventh anniversary is "omething of an anachronism anyway. The anachronistic lucky seven, and so on. So we decIded to celebrate the occa- sion with our first anachronism I won't tell you what I thought of. It's some- thing quite extraordInary, I promIse you. " Clara stared at her in astonishment. "Y ou mustn't take us seriously, Liza. It's only a joke. We wouldn't think of defacing } our house." To the maid, who had stalked in bearing the tea tray, she said, "Mattie, you'll have to take that back. You know I won't tolerate tea bags in the house. Please go back and make the tea properly, just as I showed you." "They didn't have nothing but tea bags at the store, Mrs Longacre," ylat- tie replied. "Afraid it's tea bags or noth- " M ' " lng, a am. "Oh, all right!" Clara said, and glanced in exasperation at her friends This maid was new to the communi- ty, and probably would not stay long, because she was already complaining about the lack of entertainment alound It was seldom that one of the houses at Herbert's Retreat was not in an up- roar with a maid just gone or ahout to go, a dinner planned, and the hostess frantically phoning her neigh bors to dJs-